World Cup 2018: Guide to Enhanced Odds

6 months ago

Since the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool brought an end to the 2017/18 football season, the bookmakers have steadily been introducing their offers for this summer’s World Cup.

Straightforward refund deals currently sit alongside huge jackpot offers and the tournament in Russia could be the busiest ever in terms of World Cup promotions. As those deals start to fill up, we should also expect to see plenty of enhanced odds offers drop in. These will cover the outright tournament markets and will continue to appear for individual matches once the action begins.

There will be potential for significantly increased value via these enhanced odds promotions but what should we look out for and, is there likely to be a catch?

Four Years On

We’d already seen an isolated number of enhanced odds offers but during the last World Cup 2014 in Brazil, these deals really started to intensify. They can take many forms but typically they will select an individual game, identify the favourite and increases their odds significantly.

For example, England’s first game at Russia 2018 is against Tunisia on June 18 and Gareth Southgate’s side are a heavy odds on option with all bookmakers. Ladbrokes, who are one of the more active bookies when it comes to enhanced odds offers, currently have England down at 1/3 but we might expect to see that price upped to 25/1 or possibly even higher.

Away from the result markets, there are other aspects of any football match that can be covered by these price boost offers. Many offer boosted odds if at least one goal is scored or, as an even more likely punt, a substantially increased price will be on the table if we see one corner or more. Back at the 2014 World Cup, Coral even had an offer with enhanced odds if Brazil wore yellow – their traditional and iconic colour.

Prior to the big kick off we should also be looking out for long term offers. We’ve just seen Coral issue a price boost of 33/1 on Rafael Nadal to win the French Open Tennis title and that’s a likely scenario for the World Cup too. Brazil and Germany are the joint favourites with most bookmakers so keep a close watch on promotions that relate to either or both of those teams to win the tournament in Russia.

Those are hypothetical examples in terms of World Cup enhanced odds but we’ve seen them arrive time and time again over the course of the 2017/18 football season. They are on course to arrive for Russia 2018 too so what do we need to know in terms of the fine print?

What to Look out for

The first point to reiterate is the fact that the deals in question are exclusively for new customers so, if you already hold an account with the specific bookmaker, you will not be able to proceed and take them up.

That can be frustrating because a lot of the mainstream bookmakers including Paddy Power, Ladbrokes, Coral and 888Sport like to be involved with this type of deal and for most of us, these are among our first list of sign ups

If, however, you are not already on board with these outlets then it offers a perfect opportunity to sign up and take advantage of high price boosts for some very likely outcomes.

The good news is that more recent entrants into the world of sports betting have also been busy in regards to enhanced odds offers over the course of the 2017/18 football season. SportNation, RedZoneSports and GentingBet are just three names that are not always first choice when it comes to expanding your own portfolio of sportsbooks.

In the last nine months we have also witnessed BetBright, Sport Pesa and SportingBet deliver price boosted offers to new customers. They, and many others will want to harness the power of the World Cup to increase business.

Remember, this is the busiest time of all as far as the betting community are concerned and the bookmakers will be active as they look to take their share of the many millions that are being staked.

Staking and Payments

The other points to note in terms of enhanced odds World Cup offers relate to the amount you are allowed to stake and the way in which you are paid in the event of a winning bet. In general, stakes are fixed so with Ladbrokes and Coral as the first example, you can expect to bet £1.00 against odds in the region of 25/1 and 33/1.

Other outlets such as Sport Pesa and 888Sport increase that sum to £5.00 but the odds involved may be lower – usually single figures up to a maximum of around 10/1.

The amount in question will be clearly stated on each offer as it is published so there is no guesswork involved; you will quickly see how much you can bet and what your possible returns might be.

The payment process will almost certainly work as a two-step system with the first step involving a cash return based on the standard market price as listed by the bookmaker for the event in question. The remainder will then follow, usually at a specified time, as free bet tokens.

Usual free bet rules will apply so do check for short expiry dates. Once again, these conditions should be laid out clearly and will be easy to follow. There may be the occasional exception but as far as we are aware, only GentingBet will pay all profits in cash under these enhanced odds offers.

As with any bookmakers promotion we do recommend that you check all terms and conditions in full before you go ahead but in general this type of offer is very easy to follow. Keep in mind that they are new customer exclusives and also check on the specific staking and payment terms but price boosted deals such as those we have listed are worth considering as potential ways of getting more value out of this summer’s World Cup.

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Written by Matt Harris

Matt Harris is a freelance sports writer with over 25 years of experience that dates back to the days of Teletext. He is a Tottenham fan who still retains hope of Spurs lifting the title in his lifetime.

New customers only, limited to one per person. If you’ve previously had a Paddy Power account, you will not qualify for the offer. Place your FIRST bet on any Sportsbook market and if it loses we will refund your stake in CASH. Max refund for this offer is £20. Only deposits made using Cards or Paypal will qualify for this promotion.

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